Down in the basement all morning glazing vessels which will become indoor fountains of varying kinds for an upcoming show, and I was thinking about the different arts.
I also make miniature gardens in my basement shop, raise the miniature plants and create compositions using those principles I mentioned in the harmony and contrast post, as well as others, and I was pondering about the differences of approach artists must take to arrive at their creations.
When I design a landscape I never know what will emerge. I approach it as discovery, allowing my search to be directed by the nature and wants of my clients and by the site itself. I have no preconceived vision.
When I make a miniature garden, however, I have to have a vision, at least of the general look and feel. I see in my mind and draw on paper what I’m after before I ever throw or hand-build the vessel and I make it the way I need it to be for this particular creation. Even the types of plants I’ll use is brought in before any work is done because I am attempting to fulfill a design already existing in my mind, which is very different from discovering a landscape design with sometimes nothing already conceived.
For a photographer the process is also a matter of discovery. Two things have to be present for a good photograph to emerge – (apart from the apparatus and such). There has to be a shot and the photographer has to have the eyes to see it. The best photographers see shots everywhere – they are somehow able to isolate the beautiful from the mundane and capture it. Which is a very different kind of creativity, it seems to me, from that required to design a landscape or create a miniature garden.
I play guitar and I ‘find’ songs on the guitar. They are in there, waiting to be discovered. Sometimes, and I think this is when music reaches its highest levels (not through me, but others), music is a direct expression of experience. A musical piece will ‘say’ exactly what in all its complexity is living in the heart of the composer as a consequence of specific experiences. Music is the language of emotions and emotions are the perception and expression of relationships. More on this tomorrow.
What is it like for the painter? How does she create?
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